


Best Kept Secret

by snottygrrl



Series: bday lucky 13 meme fills [8]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Harry Potter Never Went to Hogwarts, M/M, Major divergence, Pre-Relationship, Rent Boy Harry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-04-05 18:50:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19046290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snottygrrl/pseuds/snottygrrl
Summary: What if Severus took baby Harry that fateful night and never told Dumbledore or anyone else in the wizarding world that he survived? What if there was no Boy Who Lived (except that there was)?





	Best Kept Secret

**Author's Note:**

  * For [waterbird](https://archiveofourown.org/users/waterbird/gifts).



> as i've mentioned my attitude about consent and sex and social mores has changed significantly in the past six years, so when presented with the trope rent!boy, i was all over the map. did i want to do a role play scenario? a sex worker positive fic? something else? and how to do any of it in such a short space? 
> 
> so for waterbird who said _Oh, how can I resist rentboy fic? H/D, of course. <3_ here is a ficlet six years later that is not even close to what you imagined, i'm sure, but i hope you enjoy it anyway, hon.

Draco made his way through Muggle London feeling horrendously out of place, and very much aware that he was probably on a fool’s errand. With You-Know-Who in control of so much of the wizarding world, and Dumbledore and now Severus dead, the ragtag remnants of the Order of the Phoenix were willing to chase any possibility, even Severus’s best kept secret—Lily Potter’s child hadn’t been killed along with his parents on that fateful night so many years ago. 

According to Severus’s journals, he’d kept the child hidden from the entire wizarding world (and the wizarding world hidden from the child). As near as the Order could tell, the boy was raised in the Muggle foster system and shuffled around from home to home. It looked like even Severus had lost track of him in the last few years, but in his final journal he wrote about his search for the child—now a teen—as the key to defeating You-Know-Who.

That Granger bint had used a Muggle computer, but could find no record of a “Harry Potter” anywhere. However one of Black’s connections had seen a street kid that looked like an older version of a picture they’d found among Severus’s journals. So now Draco was headed to King’s Cross and Soho to see if he could spot a “Harry” wandering about. Yeah, sure.

After an hour of meandering and trying to subtly examine every person that looked like they might be living on the streets, a rent boy he’d passed by three times quirked a suggestive smile and said, “Hey, mate, anything I can help you with?”

For about the millionth time, Draco wished he’d taken Granger up on the Muggle currency (and the accompanying lesson that went with it), not only because the rent boy was his exact type, all lean and lithe with bright green eyes, but because he’d get a lot farther if he could buy some of these folks a drink or, better yet, a meal.

Draco regretfully shook his head and was about to find a secluded spot to Apparate, when someone called out angrily, “Snape, you told me you’d quit working for the day.” Draco’s attention snapped back to the rent boy just in time to see him running a hand through his hair, pulling the long fringe off his forehead and revealing a distinct scar. One that looked decidedly like it could have been left by a curse. The man who had just spoken grabbed the rent boy, but before Draco could even get his wand out, the man was flying back and hitting the building wall with so much force, Draco heard something crack. The man slumped to the ground, unconscious.

“Fuck!”

“Harry Snape?” Draco said, holding up his hands placatingly when probably-Harry turned back to him, eyes a bit wild. “I know Severus Snape and we need to talk.”

**Author's Note:**

> last night my brain came up with the idea of a major canon divergence where snape took baby!harry, and didn't tell dumbledore or anyone else that he survived. a world where harry grew up in london foster care and never knew he was a wizard and ended up on the streets at fifteen and became a rent boy to make ends meet. a world where there was no boy who lived (except that there was).
> 
> i am v. much aware that there could be an entire novel length fic about what happens next, but i am also pretty sure i'm not going to be the one to write it (despite this wee fic pouring out of me faster than anything has in the last couple of years).


End file.
